What Hurts The Most
by WriterInTheMaking101
Summary: Set roughly eight years after the season three finale. When Izzie's perfect family is suddenly destroyed, how does she and everyone around her cope? Main pairings: McStizzie, MerDer, Bang, Addisex and Glaire GeorgeClaire
1. Bad Day

**Hey guys! Okay so I want to say first of all that for all the amazing faithful readers of From This Moment On, I'm having trouble with that story, I'm almost done the final chapter though so don't give up hope! This is my newest fan fiction, entitled What Hurts the Most! It's pretty sad, I don't know if I would say tissue warning but I'll say it just in case! Also I know that a lot of this medical stuff may not be correct but I'm only twelve, I found all of it on the internet so please let me know if something isn't right.**

**Anyways the pairings are the same as my last story (McStizzie,Addisex,MerDer and George and Claire) except for one very important thing. Mark and Izzie don't have Abbie,Clarissa and Jackson. I know that sounds weird but they never had those three kids and it's a shame because I loved writing them but this is a different type of story, more heavy and for that I brought out the Fantastic Four. Their children are now Chloe, age seven, Clarissa age five and a half, Allie age four and Daisy at three. I dedicate this story to my next door neighbour Daisy, who at three and a half is in love with Frank Sinatra. **

**Disclaimer: I obviously own nothing. I do however own the children and I totally own Cukonuts. No need to mention I also don't own the song Bad Day by Daniel Powter. **

Izzie had always been one of those people, the person that wanted a fairy tale ending, that dreamed of living in a quiet town, with a picket fence house, four kids and a dog. They would go to church and have a backyard. She was one of those people that would lie awake at night fantasizing about said fairy tale ending. But the one thing she had never dreamed about, the one thing in all her years of picking out the perfect house and deciding what her kids names would be and the color of their car, the one thing she had never thought about was sickness. Sickness in her perfect little family. She thought enough about it in the hospital, in surgery. Sickness was all around her, she was drowning in a sea of sick people. But when she got home, to her four little girls, sickness was the thing she could escape. Sure, they occasionally had the flu and Allie was prone to the 'sniffilies' but they were never as sick as any of her patients. But now the nightmare was becoming a reality. The six letter word she would never be able to say again.

Cancer.

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_"Cupcakes! Let's make cupcakes!" Clarissa exclaimed, clapping her floury hands together. _

_"Nuh-uh. I wanna make cookies." Daisy butted in, staring intently at the bag of chocolate chips in front of her, like if maybe she glared hard enough it would turn into cookies. _

_Allie shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I think we should... I think we should make doughnuts! Like the kind Daddy brings home from work. Except better!" _

_Chloe looked at the three solemly. "We can make cukonuts." _

_Allie raised her eyebrows. "Cukonuts?"_

_"Cookies,cupcakes and doughnuts all mashed together." _

_Clarissa considered this for a few moments. "Sounds good." Daisy nodded slowly and finally Allie smiled._

_"We can sell 'em to Mrs. Culliford!"_

_"We gotta eat 'em first silly."_

"Shh." Clarissa says, pressing her finger to her lips. "Chloe ain't up yet we gotta be quiet!" Daisy supresses an excited squeal and bounces on the balls of her feet.

"Maybe we should wake her up." Allie suggests.

"We can't! She's gotta wake up all by her self."

"Maybe if we all stare at her." Clarissa offers. They all set their minds to watching Chloe, Allie bouncing the box of cukonuts on her knees and suddenly Chloe opens her eyes looking surprised.

"I knew it would work!" Clarissa says gleefully.

Chloe smiles, sitting herself up groggily. "Is Mommy here?" She asks.

"She's talkin' to Auntie Addison and then she's comin' to see you. But we wanted to bring to the cukonuts all by ourselves!" Allie says happily.

Chloe's mouth drops open in surprise. "You brought cukonuts!"

"Yeah! We made 'em! Mommy kept saying that we were gonna mess them up real bad 'cause I kept accidentally puttin' in sugar instead of peanut butter and then we'd hafta start all over again! But finally Daddy took me to the park so I wasn't in no one's way." Daisy says this slightly dejectedly but Chloe smiles at her.

"Can I have one?" She asks, looking at the plastic box of cukonuts.

Allie nods vigorously. "We asked Mommy who had to phone the hosptal and ask Auntie Meredith and they said yes!" Chloe wastes no time in taking a cukonut and biting into it. She closes her eyes, leaning back into the pillows.

"This," she says seriously "could be the best cukonut we've ever made."

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_They had come up with the two nicknames around the time that Daisy wouldn't stop listening to Frank Sinatra and Izzie told Chloe to find her a different kind of music to listen to, because constant replays of Luck be a Lady were getting on her nerves. "ACDC." Chloe said, presenting Daisy with the CD. _

_"ACDC? What're they?" Daisy asked skeptically. _

_Chloe thought hard for a minute then said excitedly, "Allie, Chloe,Daisy and Clarissa! ACDC!" And from that moment, Luck be a Lady was overpowered by Highway to Hell. _

_The second one had come from Clarissa desperatley trying to teach Daisy her numbers. "One."_

_"One." Daisy chorused._

_"Two."_

_"Two." And so on until ten._

_"Now think of something that has ten numbers in it." _

_Daisy thought for a while. "I don't know." _

_"How about seven?" _

_"No idea."_

_"Five?" _

_"Beats me."_

_"Four?" She asked hopefully._

_"Fantastic Four." Daisy replied. _

_"That's right! Okay now think Daisy how many sisters do you have?"_

_"You,Allie and Chloe. So.. three?"_

_"Right! What's three and add another one?"_

_"Four! We can be the Fantastic Four!" _

The three of them are sitting, watching the Fantastic Four as Sue Storm battles it out with Dr. Doom. Daisy is leaning against Allie, covering her eyes while Allie tries to look as if this isn't frightening her at all. Clarissa is sitting on the other side of Allie, looking wide eyed at the screen. Someone is missing. Chloe is missing. It's like in those commercials when they show the kids and there's one there only it's slightly faded away. Normally it's a Missing Kids commercial, the kid has been kidnapped or run away. But Chloe wasn't kidnapped. She certainly didn't run away, she's only seven.

Izzie remembers how it all started. Her and Mark were in bed. It was late at night, Mark had come home from a long day at work, four back-to-back surgeries only one of which had been sucsessful. It was two twenty eight in the morning when a small figure had appeared at the side of their bed, clutching a ragged blanket.

"Mommy? Daddy?" The little girl had jumped onto their bed, tugging at the covers.

"Chloe?" She had asked groggily. "Chloe what are you doing up you have school tomorrow! What's wrong?"

"I don't feel good." She had said, rubbing at her eyes.

"Does your stomach hurt?"

"No. My head hurts and my throat feels funny, like it's closing up." Her and Mark had sat up and taken her tempurature. Upon deciding that she had simply had a nightmare, they led her back to her bed. This, Izzie often reminds herself, was her first mistake.

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_"Alright Chloe. I need you to tell me exactly where it hurts." Mark said. Chloe was on his knee, her arms wrapped around his neck._

_"My leg." She said. "My leg hurts real bad. And I feel dizzy, like I'm spinning to much. I feel tired and I can't swallow good." _

_"Alright baby. We're gonna take you in to see a doctor okay? We're gonna find out what's bugging you?" Chloe nodded her head of blonde hair slowly, her blue eyes glistening with tears. "Don't cry." Mark said, wiping the tears from under her eyes. _

_"Sorry Daddy. But it hurts.. it hurts real bad." _

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_"It's not fair." Izzie said quietly, trying desperatley to swallow the lump in her throat. "We shouldn't be those people. The.. the one in three hundred Mark! It's not fair." _

_"I know." Mark said, putting his arm around Izzie and pulling her tight towards him. _

_"She's seven! Seven years old. She might.. she might not get to live to see eight Mark! She might never have another Christmas." Izzie was sobbing now, tears pouring down her eyes, she buried her face in Mark's chest and let him hold her. _

_"Mommy?" Daisy appeared, looking scared. "Mommy! What's wrong? Daddy what's happening to Mommy?" Daisy asked, shaking slightly. Mark closed his eyes, walking over to Daisy and picking her up. "We're gonna take you back to bed okay angel? Tomorrow, tomorrow we'll tell you what's wrong. But I need you to do me a big favor, and leave Mommy alone for now okay?" Daisy nodded uncertainly as Mark placed her into bed. _

_On the other side of the room, Allie turned over, pressing her face into the wall. _

_Where is the moment we needed the most  
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost  
They tell me your blue skies fade to gray  
They tell me your passion's gone away  
And I don't need no carryin' on_


	2. Somewhere Over the Rainbow

**Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, well the review more like it lol but I put this chapter up in hopes of getting more feedback! I hope you guys like it and right now I know it sort of seems like I'm just doing these weird little flashbacks and focusing totally on Izzie and the kids but in the chapter after this I'm focusing more on what happened after season three and on everyone else and their reactions of Chloe's illness.**

**Disclaimer: So I own nothing except the Seriously Extended season 3 I bought (it's awesome by the way!) I also do not own **

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Izzie is calling George. Because that's what she does. When things go wrong, she calls George. Even eight years later, even after four kids and a husband. George is still the person she calls when she's upset. The phone is ringing, ringing. She hears a small voice suddenly. "Hullo?"

"Hey Maddie?"

"Aunt Izzie!"

"Hey darlin'. How are you!"

"I'm good except I'm sick." Izzie's heart skips a beat.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, just a stuffy nose! Do you wanna talk to Daddy?" At that moment Izzie can't help but think how unfair this is. Maddie has a stuffy nose. Chloe has cancer.

"Yeah that would be nice. Hey I hope you feel better! Love you!"

"I love you too." There is a moments crackling as if Maddie has to go under a bridge to find her father. Finally, before a DAAAADDYYYYY, George's voice is on the other end.

"Hey Izz!"

"Hi." She says quietly.

"Is everything okay?"

"Not really."

"Is it Chloe?" He asks slowly.

"Yeah. No." She takes a shaky breath. "It is but it's more than that it is her. I'm just.. I'm so tired. I know that makes me sound bitchy and selfish. But I'm so tired of going to bed every night, knowing that she might not wake up. Of people telling me to keep positive. I'm just.. tired."

"I know Izz." She knows he is trying to be comforting, she knows. But this is so far from comforting. Because he doesn't know. No one knows.

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_She can recall so vividly the day her and Mark sat the three of them down and explained it to them. They were sitting on the couch, Clarissa first, Allie in the middle and then Daisy at the end. They had been watching Fairytopia and were dissapointed to be interrupted in the middle of what Daisy assured her was the best part. "Girls, this is important." Mark said somberly, as they moaned about the turning off of the telivision. _

_"I'm sure you guys have noticed Chloe hasn't been feeling well. Right?" Izzie prompted._

_Allie nodded, speaking for all of them when she said in a small voice, "Chloe's always tired and sad.. she don't eat no more and last night she wouldn't even make cukonuts!." _

_"We know. So a few days ago we took Chloe to see a doctor to find out what was wrong with her so we could help her get better."_

_"That's good!" Daisy said slightly doubtful. "Right?"_

_"Well it is good because we found out what was wrong with Chloe."_

_"What's wrong with her then?" Clarissa asked, twirling the hem of her skirt. _

_"She has something called cancer. It's disease of the blood." _

_"Whatsa matter with Chloe's blood?" Allie asks. _

_"Well honey it's really hard to explain and even harder for you to understand but it goes something like this. Alright so most people have red and white blood cells. But with the kind of cancer Chloe has, called leukimia, it makes too many white blood cells in her bone marrow. The white blood cells take up a lot of space in the bone marrow and take up a lot of room in Chloe's flow of blood but all these white blood cells can't do their job of protecting Chloe's body against disease because they're defective. Does that make sense?" _

_The three nodded slowly. "So what's gonna happen to her?" _

_"Well," Izzie started, "There are a few ways that the doctors can help make Chloe better. One of them is a treatment called chemotherapy. It will help Chloe but it will also make her feel really tired and sick a lot of the time."_

_"But I thought," Allie began, sounding confused, "that this was gonna help Chloe not make her sick?" _

_"It will make her better. But the chemotherapy is tough on your body and although hopefully the cancer will go away, she'll still get pretty tired." Izzie brushed a tired hand through her hair and looked at the girl's faces. _

_Daisy's eyes were suddenly filling up with big tears. "M-Mommy? Is Chloe gonna die?" Daisy was suddenly sobbing and she flung herself at Izzie. Izzie held Daisy tightly, stroking her blonde ringlets. _

_"No she isn't sweetheart. You know why?"_

_"Why?" Daisy whimpered._

_"She's gonna fight and we're going to fight for her. For everything it's worth we'll fight." _

_Somewhere over the rainbow  
Skies are blue  
And the dreams that you dare to dream  
Really do come true _

_Some day I'll wish upon a star  
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me  
Where troubles melt like lemondrops  
Away above the chimney tops  
That's where you'll find me_


	3. What If She's an Angel

**Hey to anyone who is reading this lol. Here's a new chapter and reviews are air for a fan fiction author! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Duh. **

They are sitting on the couch, Derek holding Blythe on one knee, Ella on the other. Meredith is standing in front of them and she feels like a teacher, the one that always is presented to tell the class that the soccer tournament was canceled or that they're having four surprise pop quizzes tomorrow. Only this time it's so much more than a test or a tournament. Ella is fidgeting, she hates to stay still and the fact she's been sitting on her Daddy's lap for a full three minutes without moving is killing her.

"Okay guys." Meredith says. "Remember how a few weeks ago I told you guys about how your cousin Chloe was pretty sick?" Blythe nods, hanging onto every word Meredith is saying. "And Ella remember how you said you wanted to visit Chloe?" Ella nods slowly as if she vaugley remembers this but has no real recolletion of what exactly she had said. "Well Daddy and I were talking and we decided we were going to go out and see her!" Ella's face lights up.

"Are we gonna go on a puh-lane!" Meredith nods and Ella gasps at the excitment of this.

"When are we leaving?" Blythe asks, twisting her black hair around her finger.

"Well Daddy and I got last minute tickets so we're going to go upstairs and pack. Then very early tomorrow morning we're going to wake up and go on the plane!"

Blythe raises her eyes towards Meredith. "A plane?" She asks uncertainly. "Y'know Mommy, one time I was watching the news? And there was a big plane crash where the plane went MOOSH into the ground and then it 'XPLODED. And so I don't know how I feel about takin' a plane."

"Well Miss Plane Girl," Derek says, going for Blythe's stomach with what he called his Tickeling Fingers, "Did you know they have TV's on planes? And you get to eat food out of a little carton and I've heard that if you're really good you get to go watch the pilot fly the plane!"

Blythe's mouth drops open. "Guess what Mommy? We're goin' to Seattle!"

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Cristina gives Burke a look of disdain as he begins a fourth round of the Wheels on The Bus. She shares the look with Taylor, who has a copy of Alice and Wonderland in her lap and is trying desperatley to block out the noise. Sean, although a year older, is bouncing around singing at the top of his lungs, although Cristina is pretty sure if any of his friends were there he would be looking at his father with a disgusted look. As it was, they had been driving for three hours and Naomi was singing in a feeble three year old voice and Kyle was smashing two Lego Star Wars figures together, yelling BUUUUUUS every time they colided.

"Mommy." Taylor begins, flipping a page in her book. "Daddy's bein' annoying."

"I know Tay. I totally agree. What could we do to make him hush?" Cristina muses.

Taylor turns another page and looks around the car hopefully. "I donno." She says absent mindedly. "When are we gonna be in Seattle anyway?"

"In about half an hour. How many minutes is that Taylor?"

"Thirty, Mommy. I bet you don't know how many minutes a hundred and twenty seconds is?"

"Two."

"Darn."

"The babies on the bus go cry cry cry. Cry cry cry. The babies on the bus go cry cry cry. All through the town."

"BUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

"Mommy," Taylor adds. "I think I would like to get out and walk.

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"Mom? How come there's such a big traffic jam? Normally it only takes us ten MINUTES to get to Aunt Izzie's house. I betch'a we've been in this car four ten hours." Simone takes a pitiful bite of her sandwich and fixes her gaze on her father. "I think Daddy's going to explode." Simone adds helpfully. Simone picks up a battered copy of People and flips through it in a few seconds. She sighs. Loud. "We should have installed these cool things I saw on TV once Mommy and you pressed a big button and your car grew really huge and you just zoomed over all the other cars!" Simone is so carried away in this explanation she doesn't even notice that her mom's on the cellphone and that her dad is blasting his face into the horn.

"Izzie-"

"And THEN! I saw a boat that you put wheels on and it just went through traffic but it went UNDER the cars!"

"Izzie hey are you there-"

"Damn traffic! Addison why can't we pull over! Damn!"

"LANGUAGE DADDY!"

"Hey Izz we're trying to get there as fast as we can there's some kind of-"

"Sorry Brown Eyes. Cover your ears if you don't like it."

"Hey look! We're moving!"

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Daisy is overwhelmed by the amount of people at their house and is currently hiding in the closet. Clarissa is going around the room, serving little dishes of dip and carrots. Allie is permanantly attatched to Izzie's knee.

Blythe is in the midst of showing George her dance routine while singing something from what he presumes is a show tune, while Maddie looks on in awe. Taylor is sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch on the last pages of her book and Naomi is sitting beside her, her mouth falling open every time Taylor laughs at a sentance, as if she can't believe someone only three years older than her knows how to read. Sean and Kyle are having what they assure everyone is a 'safe' fight which consits mainly of them throwing stuffed animals at each other, then ducking behind large cushions. Ella is sitting on Meredith's knee, nestled into Meredith's neck. All the running up and down on the plane aisles has worn her out.

Chloe is the sort of centre of attention, because although everyone is doing their own thing, she's the person they're all thinking about. She's sitting on Mark's knee, wearing fuzzy pink pajamas, her blonde hair pulled back into braids. Her head is resting against her neck and Mark is absent-mindedly stroking her hair. Chloe's arms are wrapped around the back of his neck and every so often she smiles softly. At this moment in time, Mark doubts if he's even been more happy, or scared in his entire life.

_A little girl on daddy's lap  
Hiding her disease with a baseball cap  
You can turn the channel  
Most people do  
But what if you were sitting in her daddy's shoes_

Maybe she's an angel  
Sent here from Heaven  
And she's making certain you're doing your best  
To take the time to help one another  
Brother are you going to pass that test  
You can go on with your day to day  
Trying to forget what you saw in her face  
Knowing deep down it could have been her saving grace  
What if she's an angel


	4. Yesterday

**So I know this is uber short but I wanted to update tonight 'cause tomorrow I'm going to a play. Anyway thanks for the reviews! I like this chapter even though it's short. HAPPY THURSDAY!! Beams You all know what that means lol**

**Disclaimer: I own zilchy. I also don't own the song Yesterday by the Beatles. This chapter is dedicated to my music teacher Mr. Sebben, who while during a quick music class today helped my muse with this song.**

Izzie awakes in the morning and can immediantly hear the sobs coming from two doors down. She pokes Mark in the shoulder. "Mark. Mark." She hisses. Mark opens his eyes groggily and looks like he's going to swat Izzie away but it's obvious he hears the sobs too.

"That's.. Chloe isn't it?" Mark is certain it is Chloe but he is checking with Izzie because she always knows.

"Yeah." She calls to him, already out of bed and on her way down the hall. Mark tails after her and finds a sobbing Daisy outside of Allie and Chloe's room.

"Daise?" Mark asks squatting down to her level. "What's wrong baby?"

"It's C-Chloe she's c-crying real b-bad and her her h-hair is e-verywhere." Dais errupts into sobs. Mark and Izzie exchange looks and a few head nods before Mark leads Daisy away from the door and Izzie goes in.

She finds Allie sitting on her bed, a scared look on her face, staring at Chloe wide eyed. "Mommy." She says softly. Izzie turns around and what she sees nearly breaks her heart. Chloe is sitting on her bed, wearing the same pajamas from the night before. Tears are streaming down her cheeks and on her fuzzy pink pillow is handfuls of blonde hair. If Izzie wasn't a doctor, and she was a total idiot she would have thought this child had serious hair pulling issues. But she knew that wasn't it. She knew it was the chemotherapy, catching up with Chloe, making her beautiful blonde hair fall out.

"Oh Chloe." Izzie makes her way over to Chloe and sits down beside her, pulling her onto her knees.

"I'm sorry Mommy." Chloe chokes out. "I d-didn't mean ta. I just w-woke up and it was all over the p-place."

"I know sweetie. I know." Izzie rocks Chloe back and forth and squeezes her eyes shut. This isn't supposed to be happening to her. Her daughter isn't supposed to have cancer. It's not fair. So not fair.

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Chloe takes a deep breath and looks up at the hairdresser. "Ready hon?" The lady asks. Chloe shakes her head.

"I don't wanna be bald." She whimpers. And before any of them know what's happening Daisy is up beside Chloe.

"I'll be bald with you." She says this firmly with no hesitations.

"Daisy you don't hafta do that." Chloe says staring down at Daisy. Daisy shakes her head firmly.

"No. I wanna. If you gotsa be bald I wanna be bald with you. Please." She says as an afterthought to the hairdresser.

"Are you sure Daisy?" Izzie asks from her chair to the side. George and Maddie are sitting beside her. Everyone else stayed home but Daisy insisted on coming. Daisy nods prominently.

"Postive. Snip away." She says with a wave of her hand. The hairdresser begins to cut, doing Daisy's hair first and by the time she's done Daisy is smiling proudly. "I love it." She flips her chair excitedly to see her no hair and laughs happily.

Izzie pulls Daisy over into a hug. "Thank you Daisy that was so.. so sweet." Izzie looks upwards, hastily wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"It's okay Mommy don't be sad! Hairdresser can make you bald too."

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The kids are finally in bed and all the men have gone out for a 'guys night' which they assured them was only going to be a movie and then dinner at some pizza joint. Yeah right. The point is, the three of them (Claire's upstairs reading a story to Maddie and Addison is in the midst of begging Simone to turn her light off) her,Cristina and Meredith are alone for the first time in.. years. Three years, Izzie is pretty sure. And it's so nice to be with them, and it be just them.

"That was cute, of Daisy to get her hair cut like Chloe."

"Yeah." Izzie says quietly. "It'll grow back though."

"So will Chloe's Izz." Meredith assures her.

"But maybe.. maybe it won't. If she doesn't get the chance to grow it back, if.. if she doesn't make it. It won't grow back."

"Izz." Meredith puts her hand on Izzie's shoulder. "I know you're probably so sick of people telling you this and I know if it was Blythe or Naoimi I would feel the same way but.. for Chloe's sake and for the girls' sake and for YOUR sake you can't.. you can't give up. Because if you give up then Chloe will give up and so.. so much of it is her fighting for it. She can't give up. And so neither can you."

_Why she  
Had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.  
I said,   
Something wrong, now I long for yesterday._

Yesterday,   
Love was such an easy game to play,  
Now I need a place to hide away,  
Oh, I believe in yesterday.  



	5. What Hurts The Most

**Okay guys thanks for the great reviews but keep 'em coming!**

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING. Zip. Nada. Zilcherooni. I think you get the point. **

_"Chloe don't worry honey. Me and Daddy have to leave but we're going to visit you first thing in the morning and Auntie Addison is going to stay with you for a long time okay?" Izzie's voice is shaking and she is trying hard not to cry. She so doesn't want to leave Chloe there, alone all night with just a teddy bear and a blurry TV to keep her company. _

_Chloe nods slowly tears building up in her eyes. "Okay Mommy. Don't worry, I'll be okay." She says in an attempt at bravery. _

_"We love you so much Clo." Mark says kissing her on the forehead. Izzie hugs her tightly and, waving good bye until they can't see her hospital room anymore. That night, for the first time in a long time, her and Mark share the bed with Clarissa,Allie and Daisy all of whom can't fall asleep knowing that their 'big sister is all 'lone.' _

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_She can remember telling Meredith so well. She can remember picking up the phone, her hand shaking and dialing the number. She can remember the whole conversation, everything that was said and the way she could faintly hear Blythe practicing a tap dance in the background._

_"Helloooo?" Blythe's voice asked._

_"Hey Blythe. Is your mom home?" Izzie didn't even try to hide the sadness in her voice. _

_"I think so. Lemme check. MOOMYYYYYYYY!!" Followed by a pause and then Blythe's voice returned sounding slightly scared. "Yep she's here. She sounds real mad though. She told me she just got Ella down for a nap and that me yelling MOMMMMYY real loud woke Ella up only I said it isn't my fault 'cause Ella's got real sensitive ear drums and then-" Blythe was cut off by Meredith's voice._

_"Hey Izz sorry about that Blythe's really wound up, she just came back from a birthday party. Anyways. I haven't talked to you in so long! How are you?" _

_"Um not so good actually." Izzie said quietly. _

_"Really how come?" By the way of Meredith's voice, Izzie was pretty sure Meredith thought it wasn't a big deal, like maybe her and Mark were in a stupid fight or that maybe Izzie had gotten her hair done and it was a disaster._

_"Well remember when.. when you and Derek and the kids came down for Thanksgiving and Chloe kept getting sick? Well it lasted for.. for a long time and so we took her to the doctors and." Izzie had to catch her breath, swallow the lump that was buidling up in her throar. "They did tests and she's sick. She has l-leaukimia." _

_"Oh.. oh my God. Izz.. oh God. Seriously." Meredith whispered. "I'm so sorry. I'll.. I'll fly out? Catch the Red Eye?"_

_"It's okay. I just.. I needed to tell someone. Mark knows and he's up in our room and he won't let me in and he's swearing.. and the girls can hear and they're freaking out and I.. I can't do this." _

_"Okay Izz." Meredith's voice was calm and soothing. "It's alright just breathe okay. It's okay, everything is going to be okay. Okay now I wnat you to phone someone, Addison or George. Because I don't think that Mark can do this right now. So you phone George or Addison and they can come over alright? I'll get the first play I can okay? Izz?" _

_"Okay." Izzie whispered. "Okay. Thanks Meredith. I'll see you.. sometime soon?" _

_"Yes, as soon as I can come okay? It'll be okay Izzie."_

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

_So she had called George because Addison was.. her friend, one of her best friends. But George was... George and he lived six blocks away so she called him. _

_"Hey." Claire's voice sounded perky, as usual._

_"Hey Claire. Is George there?" _

_"Yup! He just finished giving Maddie a bath do you want to talk to him?" No, Izzie thought, I called just to find out if he was there and then hang up._

_"Yeah, thanks." _

_"Alright one sec." _

_"Hey." George's voice was on the other end moments later. She closed her eyes and bit her lip tightly, tears welling up in her eyes._

_"Hey." She said shakily. Damn it. Just by her voice you could tell something was wrong. "Can you come over?" She asked hurriedly. _

_"Um right now?"_

_"Yeah. Please." She pleaded._

_"Okay.. is everything okay?"_

_"No. Everything.. nothing is okay. Please can you just come over?" _

_"Okay I'll be right there."_

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

_What followed had been the worst night of her life. Mark had yelled at her, she'd yelled at him. "So our daughter gets cancer and you call George? What the hell Izzie! I was upstairs. It's not just you that is devestated."_

_"I'm sorry Mark. Please I'm just.. I'm so sorry." _

_"Yeah well you've got a great way of showing it."_

_"SHUT UP! I was panicking Mark, I didn't know what to do. You were upstairs and you wouldn't let anyone in. I was scared!" _

_"You didn't even bother trying the god damn door." _

_"Mark maybe you should... just take a breath. Calm down a bit." George had suggested._

_"Stay out of this!" Mark yelled._

_Then Mark had stormed away upstairs and Izzie had started to cry, and despite her best efforts she couldn't stop. George came over to her, curled up in a ball on the couch. And before he could come any nearer she began talking. "It's my fault George. It's my fault she's sick. I'm a doctor, I should have known. I should have recognized the signs. But like the idiot I am, I just.. I just thought she had a cold or the flu. And when they said she had leukimia.. I should have known." _

_"Izz." George said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Izz it's not your fault. It's so not your fault. It's a horrible thing and I don't.. I don't know, I can't imagine you feel right now. But I know that it's not your fault."_

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Only it is her fault. It's her fault that right now, Chloe is in her room, wearing a baseball cap and refusing to go to the mall with her and Addison. It's her fault that Clarissa,Allie and Daisy go to bed every night scared. It's her fault.

_I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house  
That don't bother me  
I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out  
I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while  
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me  
There are days every now and again I pretend I'm ok  
But that's not what gets me_

What hurts the most  
Was being so close  
And having so much to say  
And watching you walk away  
And never knowing  
What could have been  
And not seeing that loving you  
Is what I was tryin' to do  



	6. I'll Stand By You

**Okay guys so I have a new prospect that will hopefully scare you into reviewing! If I don't get at least three reviews from this chapter, I'm taking the story down. Please don't make me do that, 'cause I love this story so please review!! Oh and Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canadians out there! Enjoy your turkey and remember to wear loose pants.**

**Disclaimer: Oh my God I can't believe I'm even bothering putting this here, how obvious is it that I own nothing. **

Izzie can't breathe. She can't breathe and she can't move. Why? Because her daughter's legs.. they are taking away Chloe's right leg. The leg, that when her and Mark play soccer, Chloe uses to kick the ball. The leg that has the little heart shaped birth mark. Her right leg. And Izzie has to climb those stairs and explain to her six year old daughter that she's never going to have the use of her right leg. And she can't. So she sits down on the couch and cries. Not loudly, not even that hard. She just cries, cries until she hears Mark come in the door and feels his prescence.

"Izz?" He asks quietly. "What's going on?"

"Chloe's l-legs. Her r-right leg they're a-amputating it. The.. the cancer's spreading." Mark holds out his hand and when Izzie takes it, he squeezes it hard.

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"They're taking her leg Alex." Addison murmers, grasping Alex's hand tightly. "They're taking her leg." She repeats and Alex squeezes her shoulder.

"I know Addy."

"It could have been any one of us.. it could have been Simone." Addison points a wavering finger to Simone who is in the midst of a jazz routine with Miss Izzy, her dance teacher, and the seven other girls in her dance class.

"I know. It could have been her Addy. But it isn't."

"Is it.. is it wrong that I'm happy? Happy it's not her that has cancer, happy it's not us that's going through all this?"

Alex thinks for a moment before shaking his head. "No."

"No?"

"No."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Meredith is standing anxiously at the door, her hands clasped together. She keeps licking her lips and by the time Mark's carried Chloe down the stairs, her lip gloss is completley gone. "Auntie Meredith? Are you comin' with me and Daddy to the hospital?"

"No sweetheart. I'm going to stay here and keep your Mommy company. I'll be there when you wake up though."

"Okay. Auntie Meredith?"

"Yeah Chloe?"

"I love you."

"I love you too sweetie." As Mark and Chloe make their way out the front door, Meredith sets off to find Izzie. Clarissa is out with Blythe,Ella,Simone,Maddie and Addison. Daisy,Allie,Naomi and Taylor went to the movies with Cristina. Derek is with Burke,Sean and Kyle at the park and George.. George, Meredith thinks, is here. It doesn't so much matter where George is, what matters is where Izzie is. Izzie had held Chloe for a long time, telling her her surgery would go well. Then she had darted.

Not that, Meredith guesses, it will be hard to find her. The house is a nice one, with three stories, but it isn't huge and from what Meredith thinks was two and a half hours of hide and seek three nights ago, there aren't a lot of good hiding places. After during a tour of the basement,attic,bathroom and the closet in the spare room, Meredith finds Izzie in Chloe and Allie's room. She's sitting on Chloe's bed, clutching Bedtime Buddy, Chloe's stuffed animal. Izzie's eyes are shut and if Meredith didn't know better she would think she was asleep.

"Izzie." Meredith says and Izzie's eys open, meeting Meredith's for a few seconds.

"They left." Izzie states.

"Yeah, just a few seconds ago." Meredith says gently.

"And I'm not there. I should be there.. I shouldn't be here."

"I know Izz."

"Was she scared?" Meredith sits down beside Izzie and thinks over this.

"I don't know. She didn't look scared, she's brave. But I don't.. I don't think she quite understands the whole concept that.. of what's happening to her."

"_I'm _scared."

"I know sweetie. We all are."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

_"The ants go marchin' eleven by eleven hurrah hurrah! The ants go marchin' eleven by eleven' the little one stops to pick up his.. skleven?" Daisy suggests. _

_Clarissa raises her eyebrows. "I don't think that'sa word Daisy."_

_"Well what rhymes with eleven?" _

_"Meven?"_

_"Jeben?" _

_Izzie smiles at the girls. They're having a picnic lunch in their backyard and after a round of tag,a sandwich and a cookie each they're taking turns singing the Ant song. But they're stuck at Eleven. _

_"How 'bout Heaven?" Clarissa offers."_

_"But the ant can't pick UP Heaven!" Allie yelps, sounding frusturated._

_"But he can GO to Heaven?"_

_"Why's he goin' there?" Daisy wonders._

_"The stick he picked up at six crushed him." Chloe says and Daisy errupts into bouts of laughter._

_Oh, why you look so sad? Tears are in your eyes  
Come on and talk to me now.  
Don't be ashamed to cry, let me see you through  
Cause I've seen the dark side too.  
When the night falls on you, you don't know what to do,  
Nothing you confess can make me love you less  
I'll stand by you, I'll stand by you, I won't let nobody hurt you,  
I'll stand by you.  
So, if you're mad get mad, don't hold it all inside,  
Come on and talk to me now._


	7. Dancing

**Okay guys so basically I was totally lying about the whole three reviews thing. Not lying exactly, I didn't write that knowing it was totally untrue but I realize even if I got no reviews I would still be writing this, because writing is what I need to do, it's what I love to do. So thank you, to all the people who read this story and enjoy it even if you don't review. **

**Disclaimer: Gives a dramatic sigh Okay just for a change: I own everything. I totally own all these characters, McDreamy and McSteamy included. I also am Wonderwoman and am an amazing dancer.**

"Izzie, she's gonna be okay." Mark says as Izzie paces up and down the hospital floor. "It's not like this is a huge surgery. There's little to no risk. The hardest part is afterwards. She's **going **to be okay Izz." Mark says, getting up and placing his hands on Izzie's shoulder to halt her pacing.

Izzie looks up at Mark. "It's so much different when it's your own child." Izzie says quietly. "When the roles are reversed, when it's you pacing and worrying, not operating. It changes everything." Izzie whispers the last few words and with a shaky breath, lets Mark lead her back to the hard metal chairs.

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Allie is counting, trying to count all the way up to a million and never stop because every time she did all she could think about is Chloe. She isn't stupid. Her Mommy and Daddy told her that the doctors had to take away Chloe's right leg but that everything would be okay. Allie isn't dumb. She knows that getting your leg taken away is a big deal. She also knows that Chloe is sick, they're not just taking her leg away for no reason. It adds up, her being sick and them taking her leg away. What if they decided to take her arm next? Then her other leg? What if they keep taking pieces of her away until there was nothing left?

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Addison is standing in front of them, smiling nervously. "Izzie, she's okay. The surgery went well. The cancer, it's spread pretty far into her leg but we hope we got as much as we can."

"Is she.. awake?" Izzie asks.

"Not yet. It could take a while to wear off. When she wakes up she'll be scared and confused, possibly hysterical. I know it's going to be hard for you guys to see her like this but you've got to stay calm." Izzie closes her eyes and squeezes Mark's hand. "So we can go in and see her? Even if she's not.. not awake?" Addison nods.

"Sure." Izzie smiles and takes out her cell phone, hurriedly punching in the number.

"Hello?"

"Meredith. She's okay. She's all okay."

"That's great Izz. I'll tell the girls."

"Okay. I'll phone when you can visit."

Meredith hangs up the phone and makes her way up to Chloe and Allie's room. "Allie sweetie?"

"Ninety nine, a hundred, a hundred and one." Allie's feeble voice floats through the door.

"Allie. Chloe's okay." Allie stops counting.

"Good." She says softly. "I forgot what came after a hundred and one."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

The sight of Chloe lying on the bed, the blankets pulled up to just below her chin, a yellow bunny lying limp in her arms might have been a peaceful sight had it not been for the bandaging around the lower part of her right leg and the noticable missing limb, made Izzie's heart skip a quick beat and she had to shut her eyes tightly before she could open them again.

"She's okay." Mark says, although Izzie is quite sure he notices the bandaging as well. "She's okay Izz."

"Yeah she is." Izzie follows Mark into the hospital room and they sit beside her bed, Izzie holding Chloe's hand, Mark stroking her hair. They're probably sitting there for half an hour before she opens her eyes.

"Daddy?" She asks groggily.

"Hey sweetheart." Mark says, smiling.

"Did my surg'y work good?" She whispers.

"It worked really good."

"So my leg is... gone?"

"It is honey." Chloe squeezes her eyes shut tightly.

"I don't wanna see it." Tears leak out the corners of her eyes. "I don't want ta."

_Time is gonna take my mind  
and carry it far away where I can fly  
The depth of life will dim my temptation to live for you  
If I were to be alone silence would rock my tears  
'cause it's all about love and I know better  
How life is a waving feather_

So I put my arms around you around you  
And I know that I'll be leaving soon  



	8. Collide

**Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but real life is catching up with me and my muse has recently decided to come visiting so I was busy writing another story for a while. I hate when my muse does that, always decides to show up at the most inconvenient times. So anyway, sorry for the long wait, hopefully this chapter is worth it!**

**Disclaimer: The only anatomy I own is my own. And I also don't own the song Collide by Howie Day (Such a good song by the way, if you've never heard it.) I don't know why I used this song because it has like nothing to do with this part in my story, but it's such a beautifully sad song that I just had to include it here.**

**Again I'm uber-sorry about no updates in a while but my friend Maddie has actually been diagnosed with leukimia about a week ago and it was really hard for me to come back to this story because this is just fiction but what's wrong with her is real. Anyway, I apologize.**

"Okay everbody." Addison tries to sound enthusastic and plasters a big smile on her face. "You guys all know what's happening today right?" She looks around the room, expecting to see wild nods and big smiles. Instead she gets a roomfull of blank faces. "No? No idea at all?"

"Today's Saturday. On Saturday, Arthur's on after dinner!" Naoimi exclaims.

"Okay. Anything else? Come on guys we talked about this last night!"

"Oh I know!" Daisy says, slapping her head like she can't believe she forgot.

"Yes?" Addison prods.

"Chloe's comin' home!"

"Right! At least somebody remembered."

"I 'membered!"

"Me too! Me too!"

"We was joking you!"

Choruses of little voices all around, assuring her they didn't forgot, would never forget such a thing. "Okay guys, it's alright I believe you. The important part is that we're having a surprise party for Chloe when she gets home. We already have cake ready but we still need to make a banner saying Welcome Home." Addison turns to Taylor. "I think Taylor and Simone can be in charge of writing that, I'll get you guys paper. Everyone else we need to help decorate! But before we do that, we have to all decide on where we can hide to surprise Chloe! Anyone have any ideas?"

"We could hide in a big airplane!" Kyle exclaims.

"Well we could but does anyone see a big airplane? Any other ideas?"

"Well Auntie Addison, there's lotsa people here so I think it will be hard for us all to fit inside. Maybe we could set our stuff up in the backyard and Mommy could tell Chloe that she had to come outside for lunch and we would all jump up and yell SURPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISEEEEEEEEEEEEEee, except not tooo loud cause our neighbours are real grumpy and don't like it when we get over excited."

"That's a good idea Clarisssa! Very good. Did everyone hear Clarissa?" They nod. "Okay so I'm going to go set the cake out and get some snacks, Taylor and Simone you guys are working on the banner, and everyone else come over here and sign this card we have for Chloe?"

"Auntie Addison?"

"Yeah Tay?"

"Is Abbie still not gonna have her leg."

"I'm afraid so sweetheart. She's going to get a fake leg really soon, which we call a prothesis. After she gets that she'll start therapy so she can learn to walk on her new leg like she did on her old one. But for now she'll be in her wheelchair."

"Oh. That's sad."

"I know sweetie. It is sad. This is why we're throwing her a party, to help her forget about all the sad things in her life and make her see all the good things."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Mark is pushing Abbie's wheel chair, Abbie had tried doing it earlier but finally gave up so Mark is doing it. Izzie is behind, carrying the hospital bag and a teddy bear. Izzie has the appearance of a person who hasn't slept in a while, her hair pulled out of the way in a messy bun, her face makeup free and pale.

"Mommy? Where is everyone?" Abbie asks, staring around the blatantly empty hallway.

"Well sweetie, maybe they went out." Izzie suggests.

"Nuh-uh." Abbie states in a tone suggesting Izzie is ludacris for thinking such a thing.

"Maybe they're at the park." Izzie guesses, setting down her hospital bag. "Anyway sweetheart why don't we go onto the deck?" Izzie is pretty sure that's what Meredith said over the phone.

"The deck? How come?"

"Because Daddy and I want you to see Grover."

"I already saw Grover last week."

"But he looks different! Come on, Daddy will push your chair." Abbie smacks her hand into her forehead, but settles back in her wheelchair and lets Mark push her onto the patio.

"SURPISEEYY!" Abbie's jaw drops and she swivels her head around to Izzie.

"Are these people here for me?"

"They are honey. It's a welcome home party."

"Oh." Abbie whispers, her eyes filling up with tears.

"Hey! What's wrong? This is a good thing."

"No it isn't. I don't want them to see me with no leg." She murmurs.

"Hey sweetheart," Mark says, bending down so he's eye level with Abbie. "Everyone here doesn't care about your leg. All they care about is that your home, safe and sound and that you're okay. Everyone is so happy to have you with us that they wanted to throw a big special party. So why don't we hang out here for a while. There's presents, and cake. Ice cream cake. And if you really hate it, then you can go back inside okay?"

"Ice cream cake?"

"That's right."

"Well," Abbie sighs as though this is a big sacrifice she's making. "I guess it'd be kinda a waste to throw all that cake away. So maybe for a little bit. Just long enough to eat some cake. And open the presents."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"She's okay." Mark says, his voice flooding with relief. "Chloe, is okay Izz. Right at this moment, she's alright. She's playing So You Think You Can Dance with Taylor and Simone and she's being the judge."

Izzie nods slowly, and relaxes back into Mark, his chin resting just above the top of her head. "I know. I just.. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do because she's our daughter Mark. Because she has leukimia. I feel helpless."

"Babe, look at her. What you can do right now, is take a deep breath, come out with us and let her finish her game. Okay?"

"Yeah." Izzie slowly stands up, takes Mark's hand and follows him out the back door.

_But I've found I'm scared to know I'm always on your mind  
Even the best fall down sometime  
Even the stars refuse to shine  
Out of the back you fall in time  
I somehow find  
You and I  
Collide_

Don't stop here  
I lost my place  
I'm close behind

Well even the best fall down sometimes  
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme  
Out of the doubt that fills your mind  
You finally find you and I collide  
Finally find you and I collide  
You finally find you and I collide 


	9. Speeding Cars

**Thanks for reading the last chapter! I haven't been too productive recently. I was kind of sad that I haven't gotten any reviews for chapter eight so hopefully you guys will make it up to me for chapter nine. Or if you're too bothered to write a review just type your name or something random so I can see that people are enjoying it! I stole that idea from a Grey's story I read recently, I can't remember the name of the author so if you read this and you're that person then I'm giving you credit here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I also don't own the song Speeding Cars by Imogen Heap. It's an amazing song you should totally listen to it! **

"What's wrong with her?" The little girl with the red hair points her finger at Chloe, her eyes wide, her mouth drooping open.

"Mommy look." A little boy tugs on his mom's skirt. "She's only got one leg and she ain't got no hair!"

"Mommy." Chloe murmurs, shaking slightly. "They're all staring at me. And pointing. Make 'em stop Mommy."

"Pretend like they don't exist sweetheart." Even as Izzie says this she knows it's useless. Because if she herself can't pretend like they don't exist, it's not very likely her seven year old daughter will be able to do the same.

"I can't Mommy. Look, that lady over there is makin' big eyes at us." Izzie squeezes her eyes shut and when she opens them, there's a crowd staring back that slowly advance forward when Izzie sends them what she hopes is a Death Stare.

"Let's play a game Clo. Remember when Allie used to bother you all the time and want you to play with her?"

Chloe nods slowly.

"And what did I used to say to you?"

"Pretend like she isn't there and eventually she'll get lost?"

"That's right. So with all those stupid people, pretend like they're not there. Just pretend like we're in the mall all by ourselves, having a Girl's Day Out just like I promised. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Aw look at that little girl. There must be something the matter with her." An elderly lady says, clasping her hand to her heart.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah?" Izzie asks, praying Chloe won't start crying.

"Do you hear something? It sounds like the wind to me." Daisy yells the last part, sticks her tounge out at the lady, and settles back into her wheelchair.

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"They were all staring Mark." Izzie whispers, pulling the covers up to below her chin. "They wouldn't stop staring."

"You should have told them to screw off." Mark murmurs, pulling Izzie closer to him.

"Mark I'm being serious. It was terrible. There was all these kids talking about her and staring and pointing. It was like we were some kind of.. freak show." Tears start gathering in Izzie's eyes.

"Izz." Mark reaches up with his thumb and wipes the tears from under her eyes. "You said Chloe stuck her tounge out at them? It worked Izz. She ignored them. And yeah, maybe it's because she's little and doesn't realize that so many people are staring at her but she's smart Izzie. She knows what she's doing."

"What is it you say?" Izzie asks, as Mark's arms wrap around her.

"What do you mean?"

"When I was marrying you, remember people wouldn't talk to me. Nurse Olivia, remember her? She wouldn't even look at me. What was it you said to me?"

"People are always gonna talk?"

"Yeah that. Say it."

"People are always gonna talk. You might as well give them something to talk about."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"Izz. Izzie you need to breathe." Meredith begs of her. "Please. It'll be okay." Except it won't be, Meredith thinks. It won't be. Because they were sitting at the dinner table, and Mark was going to take Chloe to therapy for her leg that she was getting in just days and then she started throwing up blood and she couldn't stop. She was seizing and was throwing up too much and Mark had picked her up and rushed out of the house and driven her to the hospital. Now they were there, Meredith,Izzie,George and Mark. Only Mark might as well have not been there because he was gone, talking to a doctor or something and wouldn't come back.

And now Izzie isn't breathing, she's flipping out too much.

"Izz. Please." Meredith says over and over again, her hand on her back. "George. Do something. Meredith pleads, tears filling her eyes. George comes over and sits down.

"Izzie. Hey. I know you're scared okay. I get that. We're all scared. But if you don't breathe, Chloe's going to wake up and you won't be here. So please just breathe." Izzie looks up at George and lets out a tiny,shaky breath. "There you go." George encourages, as though she is a small child learning to tie her shoe. Izzie clenches her hands into fists and breathes in again.

Meredith holds out her arms and Izzie falls into them, sobbing, shaking. She can't do this. Chloe was supposed to get better. She was supposed to walk. But now she's in some hospital room and they're doing tons of tests and they won't let Izzie in.

She can't do this.

She won't do this.

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Izzie awakes slowly, groggily. Her head is in Mark's lap, his coat is draped over her. Mark's hand is resting on her's and on the couch across from hers, Meredith is sitting, a cup of coffee clutched in her hand.

"Meredith?"

"Hey Izz."

"Is she-"

"She's okay. She isn't.. she's not great or anything Izz. But she's awake and breathing on her own. I think she's asleep right now, I wanted to wake you up but it's just.. it's been such a rough night."

Izzie nods and gently slides out of Mark's lap. "Can I go see her?" She asks Meredith in a shaky voice.

"Yeah. I'll stay with Mark." Meredith says, giving Izzie a warm smile.

"Thanks Mer. Did.. did you go see her?"

"Yeah, just briefly. She's so tired Izz and the doctors, they were all over the place. I didn't even really get a chance.. to find out what happened."

"Okay. So I can just.. go in?" Izzie asks,standing up uncertainly. Meredith smiles softly and nods.

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"Mommy?" Chloe asks groggily, her eyes opening slowly.

"Hey sweetheart."

"What happened to me? Why'm I back in Seattle Grace?"

"We're not sure honey. Do you remember what happened last night?"

Chloe shakes her head uncertainly but then slowly nods it. "Kinda. I was feelin' tired and I remember I started throwin' up but that's it really. Wait. Then Daddy picked me up and 'veryone was yellin'. That's all."

"That's about it. The doctors said that they ran tests and did scans but they aren't entirely sure what's going on."

"That's scary." Chloe whispers.

"I know honey."

"Where's Daddy?"

"He's in the waiting room, he's pretty tired. We were up most of the night waiting."

"Okay."

Alex comes into the room suddenly. He's wearing his scrubs and his eyes are darting all over the place, as if he'd rather look anywhere than at Izzie or Chloe.

"Uncle Alex?" Chloe asks, smiling at Alex.

"Hey there." Alex finally rests his gaze on Chloe. "Izz? Can I talk to you for a sec." He presses his lips together. "You should probably get Mark."

_Here's the day you hoped would never come  
Don't feed me violins  
Just run with me through rows of speeding cars.  
The papercuts the cheating lovers  
The coffee's never strong enough  
I know you think it's more than just bad luck_

There there baby  
It's just text book stuff  
It's in the ABC of growing up  
Now now darling  
Oh don't lose your head  
Cause none of us were angels  
And you know I love you yeah


	10. There Goes My Life

**Hey guys! Okay so first of all I just wanted to say I'm not too confident about the medical stuff here but I'm only 12 and I'm a little too lazy to spend ages searching to see if what I've found is possible. If it isn't then someone let me know and I'll change!**

**Disclaimer: Ok so I don't own anything. I also don't own the song There Goes My Life by Kenney Chesney. (I know I say this with every song I name my chapters/episodes for, but it's a really good song, pretty sad, you should watch the video, or download it.) **

"Alex?" Izzie asks, her voice shaking. "Alex what's going on."

"Alex, what.. is something wrong?" Mark asks, tightening his grip on Izzie's shoulder.

"We.. we were running some tests and we found." Alex swallows before continuing. "The leukimia has spread. Considerably." Izzie wavers, almost falling back into Mark.

"H-how much?"

"A lot Izz. When we removed her leg, we knew that we wouldn't have caught all the cancer, but we were hoping we had gotten rid of most of it and that the chemo would elimante whatever was left. But we found it's spread into her lungs."

"Oh.. oh my God." Izzie murmurs this over and over, her eyes shut. "What. What stage."

"By now we'd say. Three, approaching a four. I'm so sorry Izz." Alex says.

"She'll be okay though. She will be okay. Right?"

"It. It doesn't look good. We're guessing..." Alex closes his eyes, takes a shaky breath and continues. "We're thinking maybe three to four months."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"Mom?" Simone asks, her red hair a mess, her night gown trailing just above her feet. "Mommy." Simone prods at a sleeping Addison with her finger. Addison's eyes crack open.

"Hey you. It's late you know."

"I know. I couldn't sleep." Simone cautiously makes her way onto the bed. "I heard you cryin'."

"Yeah."

"Yeah. How come."

Pause.

"How come Mommy? Is it Chloe. She was sick at Auntie Meredith's house. What's wrong with her?" Addison pats the spot beside her and Simone gets under the covers, turning to Addison. "Tell me. Please."

"Well sweetheart, you remember how Chloe has-"

"Leukimia, I know."

"And she got her leg amputated. Well." Addison doesn't know if she can continue. She's pretty sure in fact, that she's going to start bawling. "After her leg was removed, the doctors were going to do chemotherapy with her, they were hoping she would get better and that the cancer would go away."

"But it didn't?"

"No hon. In fact, it spread, into her lungs." Simone cocks her head and points to her heart. Addison nods.

"That.. that's not good?"

"No, it isn't. It's pretty bad."

"We had a party for her." Simone offers. "We had a Welcome Home party, and she wasn't supposed to get sick again. She was supposed to get all all better." Simone sighs shakily, rolls into her side and closes her eyes. "That," she proclaims, "is not fair."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

_"Mom? Mommy?" Chloe was running up aisle seven, Allie quick at her heels. They were passing stacks of toilet paper and bathroom cleaner, in desperate search for Izzie. _

_"Maybe," Allie suggested "she forgot us here."_

_"Nuh-uh." Chloe said, stopping for a moment to catch her breath. "Mommy would never ever forget us."_

_"How do you know."_

_"I just do, gosh. Okay. Here's my plan." Allie stepped closer to Chloe, ready to hear whatever means of escape her big sister could come up with. "I bet, we could stay in here over night. We could eat their oranges and cookies, sleep in those GINORMOUS fuzzy beds they have and maybe if we're lucky we'll get to play with all the Barbies they have."_

_"But how are we gonna do it without gettin' caught?"_

_"We'll be stealth." Allie gave Chloe a confused look._

_"Stealth?"_

_"Yep. I don't remember what it means but Daddy used it one time. He said if we wanted to give Mommy her surprise party we had to be stealth." _

_Allie nodded slowly. "Okay. So we're gonna be stealth. Can we be stealth spies? Like Sue Storm?"_

_"Sure! You can be Sue Storm but I wanna be Superwoman." Allie made a face, as though Superwoman could never, ever compare with Sue Storm. _

_Ten minutes later, after Allie chorusing she was tired of being stealth, they went to the photo development places and claimed themselves as lost. When the nice lady at the counter told Chloe she could speak over the intercom, telling their mom to come get them, Chloe took the mike in her hand and said cheerfully, "Hey Mommy. This is Chloe, y'know your DAUGHTER, the one you FORGOT in aisle FIVE of the grocery store. Me and Allie are here and we got tired of bein' stealth. So if you could come get us, that would be nice." _

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Only this time, it's Allie being stealth, in aisle three instead of seven and she's crying because being stealth is no fun without Chloe. "MOMMY!" She hollers. "Mommy." She is tearing up aisles, past concerned looking people. She sees a woman with blonde hair and breaks into a run, only to find out that the blonde lady isn't her Mommy.

She finalls finds Izzie and throws herself in her arms. "You left me Mommy. You left me all 'lone."

"I'm sorry baby. It's okay." Izzie rubs Allie's back.

"Bein' stealth was no fun. C-Chloe wasn't there and it was scary." Allie sniffles sadly. "I wish Chloe'd get better."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Chloe is sitting on Mark's lap, her head resting on his chest. A blanket is pulled over them and a football game is on TV. Chloe's eyes are half closed and Mark is playing with her hair, when he realizes how unfair this is. That his baby girl, his oldest girl really but the one that was a baby first, won't be here in four months. Maybe four. Most likely, she won't be here for Christmas time. She won't get to turn eight.

It is so, so unfair.

"Daddy?" Chloe says quietly, the top of her head tickling Mark's chin.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

_He smiles...  
There goes my life.  
There goes my future, my everything.  
I love you, daddy good-night.  
There goes my life._


	11. Wonderwall

**Hey guys! Okay I really hate to harp at you about this but could you guys, amazing readers of mine, review a little bit more for this chapter! Because I love writing this, it's so much fun and even if I thought no one read it and everyone hated it, I would still be writing it but it just feels so much better to know that people are reading this! So I'll be so happy if I get a couple reviews for this chapter. I'll do my happy dance! Well that's more like a punishment. Anywho thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all. And, I can't believe I'm bothering to write this but the lyrics of Wonderwall by Oasis, are not mine. **

_"Nooo!" Chloe moaned. "You guys aren't doin' it right." She put her hands on her hips, and did a 360 until she was facing Daisy. "Okay. So you come out here and you do your BIIIG welcome okay?"_

_"I did." _

_"No but when you come in you have to do your jazz hands."_

_"My WHAT?"_

_"Your jazz hands." Chloe sighed. "Like this." She puts on a large, stage smile and waves her hands at either side._

_"You look like you're havin' a seizure." Clarissa offered from the sidelines. _

_"Gu-huys!" Chloe said dejectedly. "This is for Mommy and Daddy's surprise anniversary. We gotta make it special!"_

_"You're bein' MEAN though." Allie moaned. "You're bein' UBER BOSSY."_

_Chloe looked surprised and slightly upset by this fact. "Sorry guys. Okay, we'll try it again. Daisy,,member to do your jazz hands after you're done the welcome and then you introduce Clarissa and Allie 'kay?"_

_"Oookay." Daisy walked back to the side of the living room and came skipping up to the little spot Chloe had marked off on the floor. "Hi everyone! Happy an'versary Mommy and Daddy. Because we love you guys THIIIIS much," Daisy spread her arms as wide as they could go. ",we're puttin' on a show for you. It's gonna have lots of dancin' and singin' in it." Daisy smiled, her eyes began rotating back and forth. She turned sadly to the fake audience and said in a mock whisper,"I'm appossed to be doin' my jazz hands. But I forget what they look like so if you guys could all just clap for me and PRETEND like I did it? That'd be good." With that, Daisy smiled sweetly and skipped off, her blue tutu flapping around her legs._

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"Welcome everyone." Daisy says, smiling slowly, gesturing her hands to the first and second row of chairs in the grass. "A few months ago, when it was our Mommy and Daddy's anniversary, Chloe helped us put on this REALLY cool show as a surprise for them. So me,Clarissa and Allie decided that we were gonna put on our own show for Chloe, to show her how proud we were of her and that we hope she gets better soon." Daisy pauses for a minute and her eyes light up. Then, turning so her eyes are fixed on Chloe she does jazz hands for a long time.

What follows is a mixture of the sweetest and disastrious thing Izzie has ever seen. The girls do a dance, in which Allie falls down twice and rips her leggings and then has to be bribed back onto the 'stage' by Clarissa. Then they perform You Are My Sunshine, which is no doubt the sweet part, it has all the women in tears. They then attempt to do a magic act, which consists mostly of Daisy yelling Abracadabra a few times until Clarissa sticks a stuffed rabbit up the crack in the table. When they're done, they're directed to a table of cupcakes, carrot sticks and Dixie cups of apple juice.

"Well Chloe? How'd we do." Allie asks like an old woman, flipping her furry purple boa around her neck and taking a slow and serious sip of apple juice.

"It was.. awesome." Chloe says, finding the right word for it. She smiles at them all. "I loved it."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"I can't do it Mommy." Chloe's eyes fill up with tears, stearing down at her prothestic leg. "I just can't."

"I know sweetheart." Izzie closes her eyes, taking Chloe's hand. "One more time. Please, for me. For Auntie Meredith." Izzie says. Meredith shoots Chloe a sad smile. "You can do it. And if you don't, that's okay. Because there's tomorrow, and the day after that. You can take as long as you want. But just think. If you try it, and you do it, the sooner you can ride your bike. The sooner you can play football with Daddy."

"Okay." She says shakily, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"Thank you." Izzie's voice wavers. Izzie stands Chloe up out of her wheelchair and supports her back as Chloe leans on either side of the bars.

" 'Kay." Chloe says and Izzie lets go of her. Chloe swallows hard and, leaning on the right bar she takes a step. Then another one. She's still being totally dependent on the bar, so finally, shooting a small glance at Meredith, she lifts her hands. She wobbles for a moment, looking like she's going to burst into tears. But then she walks, with her arms at her side and a huge smile on her face, she's walking.

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"Not fair." Allie says, her lip wobbling. "Not fair, not fair, not fair."

"What're you TALKING about." Clarissa asks, over the blast of the music coming from downstairs. "And why aren't you down in the PARTY! There's soda pop! And CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES!" Clarissa announces this as though it's the Holy Grail.

"All she did was walk." Allie traces the pattern on Clarissa's wallpaper. "All she did was stupid walk and everyone's having a big stupid party for her. I learned to walk when I was a BABY. No one gave me a party I bet." Clarissa cocks her head at Allie, trying to decipher what she's saying. "Besides, she already knew how to walk. It isn't THAT stupid HARD!"

"Mommy said, that for a little while, we're going to have to make a big deal of the small things."

"How stupid come!"

"Stop sayin' stupid all the time. And the reason is because if Chloe sees us getting all excited about the little things, she'll realize that we're all believin' in her. And then she'll start getting hope. Get it?" Clarissa's eyes are pleading with Allie to get it.

She nods. "Yeah. I think I do."

"Good. Now c'mon. The chocolate strawberries aren't gonna wait FOREVER you know."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

Izzie is on her way to say good night to Allie and Chloe, after visiting Clarissa and Daisy's room, when she hears a little voice, Chloe's voice, floating out from the door.

"Hey God. It's me Chloe. I haven't talked to you in a real long time, we stopped goin' to church when Daisy was born 'cause she cried and cried and finally Father John said we hadda stop bringing her, she was disruptin' the whole church. Sorry about that. But I was hoping that you could make it so that everyone around here stops actin' so sad. I know that I'm sick, real sick God. I know that I might not get better. But I wish that Mommy would smile more and that Daddy would laugh. Everyone walks around all quiet, like they think they gotta act perfect or I'll go totally crazy. But when they're like that, they're practically screamin' HEY EVERYONE CHLOE's SICK! So when they laugh and smile or even fight or somethin' it feels more normal. I just thought you should know that God. One more thing God. If I die, and I really don't want to, but if I do? Make everyone not sad please. Because I hate seein' Mommy or Daddy or Clarissa and Allie and Daisy get sad. Or anyone else I love. I hate when people are sad and I don't want it to be because of me, because if I die.. it will be. That's all I think. Amen."

_Today is gonna be the day  
That they're gonna throw it back to you  
By now you should've somehow  
Realized what you gotta do  
I don't believe that anybody  
Feels the way I do about you now_

Backbeat the word was on the street  
That the fire in your heart is out   
I'm sure you've heard it all before  
But you never really had a doubt  
I don't believe that anybody feels  
The way I do about you now

And all the roads we have to walk along are winding   
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding  
There are many things that I would  
Like to say to you  
I don't know how 

Because maybe  
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall 


	12. The Long and Winding Road

**Hey guys. So I was actually gonna stop writing this because I figured no one was reading this but then I remembered this one fan fiction I read a while ago and I never reviewed it but it was one of my favorite stories and the author ended it because no one was reviewing and she got a lot of PM's saying that they loved the story, they just didn't review. So long story short, I'm not ending it because I know how upset I was when said author did this. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I clearly don't own the song The Long and Winding Road by the Beatles. **

"Okay honey, Auntie Addison is coming to pick you up for lunch at twelve okay?"

"Okay." Chloe says quietly, nodding her head slowly. Izzie bends down and hugs Chloe tightly. "Wait Mommy. Don't go. Please." Chloe holds onto Izzie's arm and surveys the playground. "No one's gonna want to play with me. I can hardly run or nothin'." Chloe says sadly.

Suddenly, a little girl with black hair pulled up in two pigtails arrives at Izzie's side. "CHLOE!" She mobs her with a hug. "I'm so so happy to see you! School's so borin' without you! We made you a cake! Only whoops. It was supposed to be a surprise."

"Hey Summer!" Izzie says happily.

"Hi Mrs. Sloan! Is Chloe comin' back for good!" Izzie is saved from answering the question when six other girls race over to Chloe, big smiles on their faces, ready to have their friend back.

"Bye Mommy!" Chloe calls, her backpack bouncing on her shoulders as she sets off with the gang of girls, her and Summer leading the way.

Izzie returns to the car, getting into the front seat she smiles shakily at Meredith. "At first I thought she was going to attatch herself to me and I'd have to drag her in."

"But you didn't."

"No, I didn't. Summer asked if Chloe was coming back to school for good." Izzie says as she glances in the rearview mirroir and begins backing out of her parking spot.

"Oh.." Meredith says in an understanding voice.

"Yeah. I wasn't sure.. what to say. How. How are you supposed to tell your someone, your own daughter for God's sakes, that she's.. dying. She's seven. When you're seven.. that. It's not supposed to be your life, sickness and dying and disease. It's just what if she thinks she's better? What if she thinks because she's going back to school that she's going to be okay?" Izzie's voice is laced with a hint of hysteria.

"I.. I wish that," Meredith pauses, taking a moment to find the words she's looking for. "I wish I could tell you Izz. I wish I knew, what to say to you, what to say to Chloe and Mark. If it's any consolation, and I know it shouldn't be and I totally hate when people say this but, if I were you.. I would be handling this so much differently. I would be a mess. A total, screwed up ball of messiness."

"I am though." Izzie says, indicating then turning right. "I am a total ball of screwed up, messiness. I just.. I'm trying to hide it. For Chloe. For Mark. For the kids because they don't deserve to have me fall apart."

"That's not fair Izz, to ask that you remain bright and happy and positive. You.. you get to fall apart every once in a while. Not now though. Because right now, Chloe is at school, probably coloring or learning how to count to a hundred."

"I know. It's just. If you were me, if it were Blythe who was.. dying. Wouldn't you feel the same way?"

Meredith turns in her seat. "Izzie. Stop saying it like that. Stop talking about Chloe dying. Because the tests said she was going to die, what does that prove? If anything it proves that medicine and sickness, it really sucks."

"But it's logic Meredith! It's.. every time we get a leukimia patient in and it's a stage four, they die."

"No. Not every time Izzie. Weren't you the one, who call me a few months ago, to tell me how that little boy, Tate had come in with stage four cancer, the doctors were giving him a month, tops. But he fought it. He fought like hell and he survived didn't he!" No response. "Didn't he Izzie."

"Yes. He survived."

"So why are you being like this! All droopy and sad. You don't know! You don't know what could happen if you just pretended like she wasn't dying, like everything was okay. Maybe she'd get better!"

"And **maybe she wouldn't!**" Izzie near-screams at Meredith, pulling into the driveway. "You think I don't want her to get better? I would give up my life if I knew she was going to be okay. But it's kind of hard to pretend that everything is fine and freaking dandy, when my daughter, my baby girl, isn't going TO SEE HER NEXT CHRISTMAS!"

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"Meredith?" Derek's voice sounds far away and she supposes it is. After all, he's in New York, with Blythe and Ella. She hasn't seen them for a week, nearly two. She misses them. "Meredith?" Derek asks again.

"Yeah. I'm here."

"I know. Why did you call? Is everything okay?"

"No."

"What? Is it Chloe?"

"No. Yes. I don't know. I yelled at Izzie."

"Hm."

"Yes. Then she yelled back. We were both yelling but I.. I was sort of mean to her. About Chloe."

"Oh. What was all the yelling about."

"I told her she had to stop being all pessimistic about Chloe, that she couldn't go around in this permanant state of sadness. A bunch of other stuff. You want to know the worst part? Izzie really hasn't been that droopy, or whatever the hell I said she was. When she's with Chloe, she's happy and cheerful and so.. loving. I see her sometimes, when Chloe will be in bed or the girls are watching a movie. She's good at acting happy for them. I was just.. I shouldn't have said what I said to her."

There's a pause over the line, a long pause. "You know what I think?"

"What."

"I think, you should apologize. It can't be easy Mer, to be there and see Chloe every day, knowing she's so sick."

"Yeah. I think... I think I'm sort of almost feeling guilty for having Blythe and Ella at home, healthy and safe."

"So apologize. Then you know what I think you need to do?"

"Hm?" She asks, twirling the phone cord around her fingers.

"You need to come home."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"Izzie?" Meredith calls, her voice echoing through the empty house. "Izzie!" Meredith calls again. She thinks she hears a reply from where downstairs. Meredith realizes, this probably isn't the best place to be looking for Izzie, in the second floor hallway. Meredith makes her way downstairs and spins around to face the kitchen. "Izz." She shouldn't be surprised that Izzie is standing in the kitchen, surrounded by plates of cookies, trays of cupcakes and muffins.

Izzie looks up at Meredith, tears spilling down over her eyes and cascading down her cheeks. "Old habits die hard." She says, smiling weakly. Meredith approaches Izzie and sits down at the counter, her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry." Meredith says to Izzie. "I was way out of line. What I said.. I didn't mean any of it Izz."

"No, you were right. You were right about me not being able to give up, about not getting to fall apart. You were right. I'm trying. I am trying Meredith."

"I know Izz."

"I feel like, no matter how hard I try, it's never hard enough."

**GAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA**

"The house seems empty." Izzie says, turning towards Mark.

"Yeah," he says pulling up the sheets, "but it isn't. Chloe and her friend.. what the hell is her name?"

"Michelle."

"Yeah. Chloe and Michelle are pretending to be asleep in the living room, but we both know they're having a Fantastic Four marathon. We know that Allie,Daisy and Clarissa are lying on the floor of the spare room, because Allie doesn't want to be alone and that Daisy is asleep but Clarissa and Allie are probably dancing. Or eating ice cream. Either one. So the house, Izz, is far from empty."

"Yeah. But-"

"That's not what you mean? I know. You mean that without everyone here, worrying and watching and walking around on eggshells, it feels empty?"

"Yeah. Basically."

"I know. But isn't it better to have them not here? Chloe was beginning to wonder about it. Daisy asked me last night when everyone was going to leave us alone."

And somehow, her three year old daughter saying this, makes having an empty house seem a whole lot better to Izzie.

_The long and winding road  
That leads to your door  
Will never disappear  
Ive seen that road before  
It always leads me her  
Lead me to you door_

The wild and windy night  
That the rain washed away  
Has left a pool of tears  
Crying for the day  
Why leave me standing here  
Let me know the way

Many times Ive been alone  
And many times Ive cried  
Any way youll never know  
The many ways Ive tried  



End file.
